The Hogwarts Legacy
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Hogwarts was founded by the greatest witches and wizards of the age. Each of them left a legacy.
1. Gryffindor

**The Gryffindor Legacy**

A man with golden robes and a white beard walked down the hall, stopping at a large wooden door encrusted with emerald jewels. This man was, unmistakably, a wizard. The pointy hat was a dead giveaway. He knocked twice and waited as he heard footsteps approaching. The silver handle turned and another wizard appeared in the doorway.

"Godric," Salazar Slytherin smiled, "To what do I owe this late pleasure?"

"I've had an idea, old friend," Gryffindor said, walking into Slytherin's apartment "I wanted to hear your thoughts on it."

"Well, I'm honored," Slytherin chuckled, "And this idea of yours?"

"You know we are all growing older," Gryffindor started, setting his hat to the side of him on the couch, "And all of us have outlined specific qualities that we value in our students. We cannot, of course, trust this sorting to the headmasters that will come after us. They will not choose the way we would."

"Of course," Slytherin agreed, "Am I correct in thinking that you have devised a solution to this conundrum?"

"You are correct," Gryffindor smiled, "You, my clever friend, will be familiar with conservation magic—"

"The theory behind the pensive, of course."

"Yes, well, that theory can be applied to other objects. If all of us were to store our…house preferences, in the fabric of the hat, it could be animated and used to sort the students."

"An interesting proposition, friend," Slytherin thought aloud, stoking his beard, "One that will, I believe, work well."

"I thought you would like it," Gryffindor chuckled, "I think I shall wait until morning to tell the ladies."

"Fearful of the curses they would undoubtedly throw your way if you were to wake them?" Slytherin grinned.

"Had to share it with at least one person before I went to sleep," Gryffindor laughed. Picking up his hat, he began to make his way to the door, "And yes, I don't think they would appreciate a visit as much as you did."

"Good night friend," Slytherin said, closing the door after him.

**TGL**

"I've sectioned off the hat," Gryffindor told the other three founders, pointing to the silver lines that quartered the hat "Simply extract the memories of your preferences for your house's students and touch your wand to one of the sections of hat. Make sure to touch the fabric."

Rowena Ravenclaw went first, touching her wand to her temple, extracting a blue strand of something that was something between gas and liquid. She touched the hat, and the memory etched itself on the fabric, with the word "Intelligence" under it. Slytherin went next, the words "Pureblood" and "Ambition" sketched on the hat. The others frowned, but did not say anything. Helga Hufflepuff followed, emblazoning "Loyalty" into the hat. Gryffindor was last in taking his wand, which had been resting on his sword, and putting his memory in; the word "Bravery" glowing on the hat momentarily, before it faded with the other memories.

"We'll try this upcoming year," he said, putting the Sorting Hat on a shelf and selected another one to wear.

"Well! That's settled then," Slytherin smiled and offered his arm to Hufflepuff, "Shall we adjourn for lunch?"

The two walked out of the room, but Ravenclaw held Gryffindor back.

"I saw that," she said.

"Saw what?" he asked innocently.

"You connected the sword with the hat. Any particular reason?"

"In case it is ever lost," the older man began, "a true Gryffindor will be able to recover it. Provided, of course, that they have the Hat."

"Clever," Ravenclaw smiled, "But I noticed you began the connection right after Salazar put his…thoughts, I guess they are, into the hat."

"Just in case one of his ambitious purebloods uses said ambition in a way he didn't intend. I've seen enough of his students to know that once he is gone, the things he prizes could get out of control, in the hands and minds of the wrong people."

"Wars won't be fought with swords forever, Godric," Ravenclaw said gently, as they made their way out of the hall."

"Maybe not," Gryffindor smiled, "But they will always be won with them."


	2. Ravenclaw

**The Ravenclaw Legacy**

"Try again."

"I've tried three times already. I kept leaving and coming back."

"Let me try.  
The small first year faced the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. The door knocker asked,

"What is magic's purest manifestation of Transfiguration?"

The boy looked at his friend, who shrugged. Both were about to give up when a voice behind them said,

"Metamorphmagi."

The entrance opened and both students looked around.

"Hi Professor Ravenclaw!" said one.

"Thanks!" the other nodded walking in.

"Did you make the knocker?" the first boy said, "Because it asks really hard questions.

"My mother did," Helga Ravenclaw said, "She took it for granted that students placed in her house would be doing extra, unnecessary studying.

She gave them both a meaningful look before continuing down the hall. The first boy looked at his housemate.

"Want to go to the library later?"

"Sure, if it's the only way we'll be able to sleep in Ravenclaw Tower…"


	3. Slytherin

**The Slytherin Legacy**

An hour glass hissed for another moment before going quiet. The boy at the table looked up from his book and frowned. Two hours had gone by so quickly! As much as he wanted to finish the chapter of his book, people would start to miss him soon. He shoved the large tome into his bag, along with the other books, and vanished the table and hourglass. Securing his bag around his shoulder, he began a series of strange hissing noises.

A snake, larger than anything ever seen at a zoo, slithered out of one of the pipes and came to a halt next to the boy. He clambered onto it and it began moving again. The boy held on tight as the snake carried him up the pipe. He let go when he felt his feet touch the tile floor.

"Thank you," he said, stroking the snake.

"Who is that? This is the girls' bathroom! Clear ou—"

The boy watched as the girl fell to the floor, dead.

"Good work," he told the snake in Parseltongue.

He left the bathroom, deciding then that he would need a new way to open the Chamber from now on.


	4. Hufflepuff

**The Hufflepuff Legacy**

Cedric clapped Harry on the back and walked away. It was unfair, but he couldn't figure out who it was more unfair to- him or Potter. As he walked up to the entrance to his common room, he decided on Potter. He wasn't sure he agreed with Melodramatic Moody; it was probably just an older Slytherin playing a joke. As the painting swung open, Cedric was met with a blast of noise so ferocious that he stumbled backward a little. His friends grabbed him by the arms and pulled him in. Tired though he was, he couldn't bring himself to extinguish the happiness that ran through the circular room.

"Way to go Ced!"

"Don't worry about Potter, Ced. You'll beat him!"

"Yeah! Beat him once already mate!"

And on it went until around two in the morning when, finally, people started drifting off to bed. As people left the room, a strange feeling came over Cedric. He wanted to see the wall. He had the story memorized, of course; all Hufflepuffs did, but he still wanted to look at it. Getting up, he walked across the common room and started down the tunnel that led to the first and second year boys' dorms. In between the circular door to the first years' room and the second year's room, a large gold cased painting hung. It had been said that this particular painting had been left by Hufflepuff herself, to encourage the students that made it into her house. Well, he wanted encouragement now…He tapped it twice with his wand, and the story began scrolling in between the pictures:

_Mother Badger walked peacefully down the road one morning. As she was walking, she came across her friend, Father Lion, who was going through his exercises._

"_Father Lion!" said she, "Good morning! And what are you doing today?"_

"_There's a wolf down in the valley, terrorizing the sheep! I'm going to go put a stop to it."_

"_Well, you certainly are brave! But wouldn't it be better to let the shepherd handle it? That is his job, after all."_

"_Don't be silly Mother Badger!" laughed the Lion, "I can take care of it."_

"_Good luck then, Father Lion!"_

_Mother Badger continued on her way, watching Father Lion run down to the valley. After another few minutes, she spied a raven in the air. The bird was flying around her nest in circles with string in her beak._

"_Hello Sister Raven!" Mother Badger called, "What are you doing today?"_

"_I am making my nest stronger."_

"_Would you like my help?"_

"_Of course not! I need to figure this out on my own!"_

_Mother Badger nodded and smiled and continued down the path. It didn't take long before she found one more friend._

"_Hello Brother Serpent!" she said cheerfully, "What are you doing today?"_

"_I'm making a trap, so I'll know when someone is coming into my domain," he hissed softly. _

"_Won't that hurt someone?" she asked him, alarmed._

"_Yes, but I'll know that they're there. Now go; I've work to do."_

_Mother Badger shook her head and kept walking home. When she got there, she shook her head, thinking about her friends and wondering what exactly she would do with her day…_

"What's it mean?" Cedric heard from one side of him. It was Kevin Whitby, a first year.

"It shows the good and bad of each house. Father Lion is Gryffindor. He's brave, and stands up for the weak; but he's arrogant as well. He won't let anyone else save the day. Ravenclaw is smart, and she knows it. She doesn't think anyone else is smart enough to help her. Slytherin hardworking and ambitious; but he doesn't care about the feelings of others. These are all exaggerations, of course; in most cases, at least…" Cedric smiled at the eleven year old.

"What about us?" Kevin asked.

"We're loyal, and helpful; but we give in too easily. We let people push us around sometimes. We're easy to cast aside like that."

"But you're going to change that, right Cedric?" Kevin grinned, "They won't be able to ignore us when you win!"

Cedric laughed and patted the boy on the back.

"Night Kevin," he chuckled, turning to walk out of the tunnel and wondering if his young friend was right…


End file.
